Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-10-15
MISUSE OF WORDS.

MISUSE OF WORDS.
In The Writer for October H L. Rich
ards, Jr., takes exception to the conven-
tional use of the words claim and claims as
wrong in ordinary application. He says:
The public at large seem to be claiming
everything, and all the reporters and even
the editors have apparently become claim
agents. To claim means to demand, to ask
as right, but in every one of such in
stances as He claims the milk is not DID,
The wounded man claimed, etc. 1t is
claimed by the driver, ETC., the word is
used in an entirely different sense. A
meaning is given to it that does not belong
to ii, and every one of the statements, if
taken literally, i absurd" He goes on TO
say that claims is used nine times out
of ten for declare, contend, assert, insist"
Mr.. Richards proves, if he proves any
thing, that custom, then, is making the
use of the word in the sense to which he
objects, proper. But aside from this he is
wrong. Claim, claims; claimed are en-
phatic expressions of assert, insist. Very
true, clamGre is to call or cry out, and it is
true also that "claim means to ask or
seek to obtain by virtue of authority, right
or supposed right. But it is because this
is so that he claims" becomes emphatic,
since it is assertion based upon a claim of
right which would support a demand.
Webster justifes its use as a synonym for
insistence or asseveration in this sense.
Roget gives the same warrant for its use.
The great American photographer and his
succeeding editors give as the definition of
assert to claim, to maintain, 10 affirm
positively, to declare with assurance" In
the note on the synonyms OF the word
assert, 1t is said that to assert is to affirm :;
to maintain; to protest to vindicate, and,
therefore, TO fasten to ones self, nd.hence.
to clam. Unquestionably, the word Claims,
is very often used where "as-
sert " or alleges or Estates .
would be better, as more nearly
expressing the character of the statement
or asseveration, but to assert that is so gen.
orally misused as Mr.. Richards alleges is
error. In well-known proverb of the
law, the distinction between allegation
that brought forward, declared, affirmed
and claim-as pretension carrying with
it the presumption of rights clearly pre-
served '.Jactlna allegantt incumbit probatio-
CLAIMANT aWtem jas" A very liberal read
ing of which would be that the proof is
incumbent upon him who alleges, but the
preferment Of a claim suggests a right.
But Mr.. Richards is more just in his
criticism of the use of has, in such common
sentences as this: The storm was one of
the most destructive that has ever visited
the coast" or 1t is one of the best there
is" In the first case it is intended to saw
that Of the most destructive storms which
hare visited the coast, this was one. But
if repetition of error can give warrant to
misuse, then this error is popularity forti-
fed since nine-tenths of the writers and
speakers of the day make it. But, as Mr..
Richards says: To write of storms has, is a
grammatical construction purely indefensi-
bic. The reporter says it was one of the
most desperate fights that has ever taken
place; the dramatic critic declares that a
certain entertainment is one of the pleasant
est that has been presented in Boston this
season. | read it in books and have even
encountered it in the columns of the cele-
DRAFTED purist of the press, the New York
Ecening Post. This shows how insidious
is the error, and indeed it is deeply rooted
as well, remember the stupefaction with
which / have been regarded when |
yentured to demonstrate with one of the
boys or even with an editor, for con-
stantly falling into this error. 1t used to
seem to me a very plain and simple matter,
but | have seen so many writers puzzle
over it, and refuse to see any fault even
when their sentence had been inverted and
analysed, that l have almost come to be-
lieve that there is something mysterious
about it."